Enter the 17-character VIN of your Skoda to see the factory basics. Free, with no registration.
Look on the dashboard, the driver's door frame or in the registration document.
Type all 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
See the factory basics for free, and order a full report for the history behind the VIN.
Enter a 17-character Skoda VIN and the decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture straight from the characters. Our Skoda data covers 25 models, from older names such as Favorit, Felicia and 105 to Octavia, Kodiaq, Enyaq iV and Elroq, with body styles from Sedan and Hatchback to SUV, Wagon, Coupe and Roadster. Model years in our version data run from 1960 to the present, and the highest power figure we hold is 477 hp.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it says nothing about accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Skoda we recognise five of them: TM9, TMB, TMP, TNB and YMB. All of them belong to the Czech Republic, so a VIN that starts with one of these codes points to a car built there. The list is the set of codes we map to the brand and is not a complete register, so a VIN that begins differently is simply one our decoder does not match to Skoda.
Characters 4 to 8 form the descriptor section, where the maker encodes details such as the model and body type. Character 9 is a check digit. North America requires it, while many European VINs fill that position in their own way, so it is not something to work out by hand on a Czech-built car.
Character 10 is the model year, and it is the one most people want. A Skoda with L in that position is a 2020 model year, R means 2024 and T means 2026. Digits are used for 2001 to 2009, so a 5 means 2005. The letters repeat every 30 years, which means a B can stand for 1981 or for 2011, and the rest of the car has to settle which. Character 11 is the plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. This 17-character system applies to cars built since 1981, so some of the older models in our data may not carry a VIN in this format.
Every VIN has six parts. This is what each of them means.
| Part | Characters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier: who built the vehicle and where |
| VDS | 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor: model, body type and engine, as set by the manufacturer |
| Check digit | 9 | Control value that helps confirm the VIN is valid |
| Model year | 10 | Code for the model year |
| Plant | 11 | Code for the assembly plant |
| Serial | 12 to 17 | Production sequence number of this vehicle |
On the driver's side, visible through the windshield.
On a sticker on the door frame or the edge of the door.
Printed in the vehicle registration or title.
Stamped on the firewall or the frame on many models.
A VIN is built from six parts, and each one says something about the vehicle. Our guides explain how to read it and what it can and cannot tell you.
Enter the 17-character VIN and see the factory basics in seconds.
It is usually visible at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side, and it is also printed in the registration papers. Check that the number on the car and the number in the documents are identical before you enter it.
The first three characters are the WMI, which names the manufacturer and the country. We recognise TM9, TMB, TMP, TNB and YMB for Skoda, and all of them are assigned to the Czech Republic.
Look at the 10th character. Letters and digits stand for years, for example L for 2020, R for 2024 and 5 for 2005. Because the letters repeat every 30 years, an older car and a newer one can share the same character.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft records or the number of owners, because a VIN does not contain any of that. The decoder is free and needs no registration, but it only reads the 17 characters.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the papers, and that the decoded model year and country fit what the seller tells you. Then ask for service records and have the car inspected in person, since the VIN alone cannot tell you its condition.